RESEARCH

With an emphasis on chromatin biology and epigenetics, our group focuses on mechanistic understandings of how chemical modifications of chromatin (see Figure 1) define distinct patterns of mammalian genomes, control gene expression, and regulate cell proliferation versus differentiation during development, and how their deregulations lead to human diseases such as cancer, developmental disorders, and aging. Multiple on-going projects employ modern biological technologies to:

biochemically isolate and characterize novel factors that specifically bind to covalent post-translational modifications on chromatin (DNA and histones) (see Figure 2 as of a recent study),

examine the role of epigenetic factors (chromatin-modifying enzymes and chromatin-associated factors) during normal development or in a diseased setting (cancer, see Figure 3) using mouse knockout models;

The proteins involved in establishing and/or changing the chemical syntax in histones are considered a promising target for drug therapies, so understanding their actions in detail is the next step in developing new treatments for human disease. We are also working closely with UNC Center for Integrative Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery, to develop the small-molecule inhibitors for chromatin-associated factors as novel targeted therapies.